Friday, September 16, 2005

Birthday Presents for a Teenager

It was as bright inside the store as it was dark in the parking lot. There were a couple kids near the door and several more at the back. A dad was trying to get his boy to turn off the Nintendo or Sony or whatever it was that they were going to buy. Two guys behind the counter said hello to Ben as we walked in. Ben said something cool back.

We walked over to the Gamecube games rack. He pointed to a used game and tried to tell me why it's a good one. And he pointed to a new one, drawing attention to its low price and suggesting that if I could find it used it would be even cheaper. And then he pointed to an old, used Gameboy game far in the back of a display case.

Those were the suggestions he made for a birthday present. But later, after we caught up with Trudy who had taken advantage of the time to run into the grocery store, Ben suggested a different kind of birthday present.

What I would really like, he said, is a tube of Trombotine.

It's the best trombone slide lubricant you can get, he explained. And it lasts for ever! I'd rather have that than any of those games -- that and a pirate action figure, of course.

Of course.


10:17:33 PM   permalink: []   feedback: Click here to send an email to the editor of this weblog.   comments: []